General Tire sponsorship of Lifesaving South Africa catches award-winning attention
Sandton, Johannesburg – The Sport Industry Group shortlisted the General Tire sponsorship of Lifesaving South Africa for “Best New Sponsorship” at the 2018 Sport Industry Awards. Treble Group, the exclusive commercial and marketing agents of the sponsorship, partnered General Tire with Lifesaving South Africa in November 2016 in a joint effort to promote safety on the road and safety in the water. We are exceptionally proud of the achievement and with the awareness that the sponsorship has brought to lifesaving in our country.
The marketing campaign takes advantage of Treble’s 360° approach and unites General Tire and LSA’s shared vision of adventure, sport and safety. Covering three key areas, namely, community service, lifesaving as a sport and drowning prevention education, our marketing solution raises awareness with a comprehensive branding and communications solution.
Community service
In the first year, Treble made sure that all 86 lifesaving clubs in South Africa received duty branding, with all 4,500 active lifeguards receiving fully-branded duty kit. LSA was proud to carry the General Tire brand on all designs, emphasising the team effort between the two organisations. We also managed the GT LSA Duty Calls social media competition, which successfully encouraged lifesaving clubs and their local communities to promote the sponsorship across a wide variety of platforms.
Lifesaving as a sport
In March 2017, General Tire stepped up as the title sponsor to the Lifesaving SA Surf National Championships, in Cape Town for the Junior/Senior age categories and in Port Elizabeth for the Nipper age category. Through an ongoing, innovative media campaign, Treble crafted all editorial content in-house and ensured constant media engagement and awareness in print, digital media and television. This included the introduction “Lifesaving” as a unique sporting category on the Sport24 website and network of media, complete with General Tire branding on the web page. The event also received coverage on SuperSport with two 26-minute segments on SS Showcase and SS Catch-up.
Drowning prevention education
General Tire also sponsored LSA’s Schools Watersmart Programme, a CSI programme that aims to enrich the drowning prevention portion of South Africa’s national curriculum. General Tire and LSA take education around drowning prevention to the next level with interactive talks and workshops, and excursions to the beach, where learners get to witness lifesavers in action. The programme has trained 48 facilitators throughout South Africa, who, in turn, reached over 17,000 learners in 2017. This does not include the number of learners affected by 15,000 posters and flyers distributed at school outreaches and social events.
Since the inception of the sponsorship in January 2017, lifesaving in South Africa has grown form strength to strength and the awareness of the General Tire brand has become synonymous with lifesaving. We are holding thumbs for General Tire and Lifesaving South Africa for the Sport Industry Awards in May 2018.
